Collapsible assorting rack



Oct. 12 192 1,602,771

L. J. MITCHELL GOLLAPSIELE ASSORTING RACK Filed Dec. 26, 1922 mam ygPatented Oct. 12, 1926.

UNITED- STATES moms JAMES MITCHELL, or nmnnabrxmrdnnm.

comarsnsm Asso'B'rING RACK Application flied ecember 26, 19a. seria no.609,011.

The present invention refers to collapsible asserting racks and hasparticular ref erence to a rack intended to be used post offices for thedistribution anda'sfsorting of mail. It is intended to provide anassorting rack of the character described that after having received themail may be convent ently collapsed and placedinto the vehicle of a mailcarrier, who then may withdraw the mail as he reaclies'the house of eachaddressee. My assorting rack is particularly adapted to be used forrural delivery. It comprises a plurality of partitions or pigeon holesconnected in such a manner that they may be readily secured to a"stationary sup port, the various pigeon holes'being marked with thenames of the various person's likely to receive letters through the postoffice. The mail may thus be distributed immedi: ately upon arrival andat certain intervals the mail carrier may take thewhol'e device,collapse the same so as to reduce the space necessary for holding it,and place in his vehicle without disturbing the arrangement of thevarious paper's, letters, et cetera. The mail will thus be ready forimmediate withdrawal whenever the house of the addressee is approachedby the mail carrier.

The preferred form'of my invention is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing in which Figure 1 shows a front view of m device; Figure 2 aside view of the same; Figure 3 a top plan vlew; Figure 4, a front viewof the device in 1ts collapsed condition; Figures 5 and 6 perspectivedetail views illustrating the manner of fastening my device to astationary support. While I have shown only the preferred form of theinvention it should be understood that various changes or modificationsmay be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

My device consists of a plurality of floors or platforms (1) preferablyof rectangular shape disposed one above the other and joined together byflexible means (2). The latter comprises preferably a plurality of cordspassing through the marginal portions of the various platforms andprovided with knots (3) for supporting the latter. It will be seen thatthis manner of supporting the platforms allows a limited freedom ofmotion for the platforms in case one of the pigeon holes formed by thesame should require more space than the one next above. This array ofplatforms may be supported in any suitable manner in an operativeposition. In the preferred form shown the drawing the top member (4) ofthe device is provided with guides (6) adapted to receive a horizontalplate (7) extending from a vertical support; (8). The horizontal plateis shown in detail in Figure 5 and is provided with a downwardlyextending flange (9) adapted to engage a guide member (11) of the sameproportions secured to the stationary support (8) by any suitable meansas by the screws (12) The bottom member (13)is held in its lowermostposition by hooks (16) extending laterally from the support (8) and a.single ver tical hook (20) secured in the bottom plate and adapted to beturned to engage the top face of the lower plate and to holdthe same.The distance between the bottom support and the top support is such asto correspond with the length of the various cords holding the platformstogether so that when held in its operativeposition the device assumes asemi-rigid character.

I The front end of each plate is provided with a numeral or otheridentifying marks, as for instance, the various names of the ersons towhom mail is to be delivered.

he bottom plate (14) is hinged'to the stationary support as shown at(17) so that it will automatically drop whenthe assorting rack isremoved.

While in this operative position the mail is assorted and distributedinto the various pigeon holes formed by my device. If the pigeon holecertain addressee is not large enough, the platform above the same maybe lifted,

whereby the size of the pigeon hole is in.

creased at the expense of the one next above, which latter again may beincreased in size if the space reserved for the same is not largeenough. Assuming now that all of the mail has been distributed, some ofthe pigeon holes being filled, some partly filled,

and some empty, and it is desired to take the rack to the vehicle of themail carrier, it would be extremely inconvenient to manipulate the'rackby merely taking it off of its support and transferring the same to thevehicle, and I, therefore, provide convenient means for first collapsingthe rack so as to form a compact unit whereby the danger of some of theletters or papers dropping out of the rack is removed. This made toreceive the mail of a V llll means consists of two additional cords (18)secured to the lower platform as shown at (19) and passing through allthe other platforms with their free ends secured to a spindle (21)supported in standards (22) rising from the top member (4) in spaced andparallel relation. A suitable crank handle (23) is provided by means ofwhich the spindle (21) may be rotated and the cords wound upon the same.A ratchet wheel (24) is keyed to the spindle and its teeth engage with apawl (26) pivotally supported in operative proximity to the ratchetwheel, whereby the spindle (21) is locked against a reverse motion.

vVhile the particular construction of the device allows of many slightchanges and modifications, and while various operators will probablydevelop various convenient ways for handling the device, I wish to suggest the following method: A vertical sup port (8), is preferablysecured on the center of a narrow table so that racks may be secured onboth sides of the same. The top member of the rack is engaged with theplate (7 whereby the same is supported in a horizontal position,whereupon the pawl (26) is disengaged from the ratchet (24) which causesthe lower platforms to drop into their respective positions. The lowestmember is then secured to the bottom member (14-) which should bedistant from the top support sufiiciently far to make it necessary toslightly stretch the cords so as to give some rigidity to the device.The mail may now be assorted and if a desired number of letters,'papers,et cetera, has accumulated, the rack is removed in the following manner:First, the bottom member of the rack is cleared of the hooks (1.6)

whereupon the shaft (21) is rotated by means of the crank handle (23),which causes first the lowest platform, and then the other platforms intheir successive order, to be pulled upwardly until the whole deviceforms one compact unit with the various letters and papers clampedbetween the platforms. In this condition the device is locked by thepawl and ratchet engagement and slid OK the plate (7'). It thentransferred to the mail carriers vehicle, who is now ready to start hisjourney, it being assumed, of course, that a plurality of racks areemployed to handle all the mail to be distributed. As the mail carrierreaches the house of an addressee he only need to take out the lettersand papers contained in that particular pigeon hole witlr out disturbingany of the remainder of the mail.

I claim:

A collapsible assorting rack comprising a plurality of platformsdisposed one above the other, flexible means passing through theplatforms having supports for the platforms incorporated therein andallowing the platforms to assume spaced relation so that articles may beplaced on the same, means for horizontally supporting the top platform,platform for pulling the lowermost platform upwardly whereby all theplatforms and articles are compressed into one uninterrupted unit, theplatforms being supported on the flexible means with freedom 1 ofvertical sliding motion allowing the space above one platform to beincreased at the expense of the space above the next higher platform.

LOUIS JAMES MITCHELL.

and means mounted on the upper

